1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a separating apparatus for separating a mixture of developer and other foreign matters to remove the foreign matters and to an image forming apparatus using such a separating apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a separating apparatus used with an image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic type, such as a copying machine, a printer and the like.
2. Related Background Art
In order to effectively utilize resources and to protect environmental conditions, there have been proposed various separating apparatuses for separating residual matter removed from an image bearing member into developer and other foreign matters, and various apparatuses wherein the separated developer is reused. Among these separating apparatuses, a separating apparatus using a mesh-shaped filter has a relatively simple construction.
However, in a separating apparatus using a mesh-shaped filter, typically the mesh of the filter is gradually clogged as the apparatus is continuously operated. It is very difficult to prevent the clogging of the filter completely.